Lean hog futures were mixed on Thursday, with nearby Feb down 45 cents and back months higher. The CME Lean Hog Index on February 6 was at $75.38, up 54 cents from the previous day. The USDA pork carcass cutout value was 42 cents lower at $76.92 in the Thursday PM report. The national base hog weighted average price was down $1.26 cents at $69.59 Thursday afternoon. The USDA estimated FI hog slaughter at 1,858,000 through Thursday. That is down 3,000 head from the previous week but 96,000 head more than the same time last year. Pork export sales were just 12,670 MT for the week of 2/1. That was down 53.7% from last week and 7.2% below the same week last year. First quarter pork production was the only one of the 2018 quarters to be adjusted this morning by the USDA, down 75 million pounds.

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